--- title: Republican Debate: How Candidates Talked Guns in Charleston description: Just miles from the sight of last summer's horrific tragedy canonical: https://time.com/4181993/republican-debate-gun-charleston/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-15T04:38:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:09:34.788Z article:section: Politics og:title: How the GOP Gun Conversation Played Out In Charleston og:description: Just miles from the sight of last summer's horrific shooting og:url: https://time.com/4181993/republican-debate-gun-charleston/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86629b1eda8959c7/6988794f0a4a227f2e9c7ecf/republican-presidential-debate-gop-photos-006.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2800 og:image:height: 1575 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidates Debate In Charleston og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the GOP Gun Conversation Played Out In Charleston twitter:description: Just miles from the sight of last summer's horrific shooting twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86629b1eda8959c7/6988794f0a4a227f2e9c7ecf/republican-presidential-debate-gop-photos-006.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How the GOP Gun Conversation Played Out In Charleston > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 15, 2016 4:38 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidates, from left, Ohio Governor John Kasich, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ben Carson and Jeb Bush participate in the Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, S.C. on Jan. 14, 2016. Republican presidential candidates, from left, Ohio Governor John Kasich, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ben Carson and Jeb Bush participate in the Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, S.C. on Jan. 14, 2016. Scott Olson—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 15, 2016 4:38 AM UTC Just a few miles from [Emanuel A.M.E. Church](http://time.com/time-magazine-charleston-shooting-cover-story/), the site of a shooting that left 9 black parishioners dead, Republican candidates all expressed their support for gun rights at Thursday night’s Fox Business debate in South Carolina. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was asked about the massacre as it relates to the issue of tightening gun control in the country to make sure people like the shooter, Dylann Roof, can’t get their hands on guns. Bush also used the question as an opportunity to note [the grace shown by some of the victim’s families in the immediate aftermath of the event](http://time.com/time-magazine-charleston-shooting-cover-story/). “I don’t know if any of us could have done what they did, one after the other, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place,” Bush said. “In this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but they didn’t fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were required to do.” Roof was able to purchase a gun due to a lag in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. As TIME’s David Johnson reported in [October](http://labs.time.com/story/gun-loophole/): --- > “” --- Though Republicans waded into the gun debate by invoking Charleston, they mostly used the opportunity to attack the executive order that President Obama put forth on Jan. 4, which took aim at the so-called gun show loophole by expanding background checks to buyers who purchase guns from people who “present themselves as dealers” based on how they sell firearms. “He doesn’t want to get people together, you know, the old fashioned way where you get Congress–you get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an order” Trump said. “It’s not supposed to happen that way.” Sen. Marco Rubio said Thursday that the president poses an imminent threat to the Second Amendment. The fact that gun sales have increased during Obama’s presidency, the Florida Republican said, is proof that people are afraid Obama is coming for their guns. “The Second Amendment is not an option, it is not a suggestion. It is a Constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families,” Rubio said. “I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would.” President Obama has repeatedly said that he supports American’s rights to own firearms, and even suggested he and his family might own one if they lived in a [more rural part of the country](http://time.com/4172374/michelle-obama-gun-control-town-hall/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4181993/republican-debate-gun-charleston/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4181993/republican-debate-gun-charleston/"},"headline":"How the GOP Gun Conversation Played Out In Charleston","datePublished":"2016-01-15T04:38:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:09:34.788Z","description":"Just miles from the sight of last summer's horrific shooting","url":"https://time.com/4181993/republican-debate-gun-charleston/","keywords":["Barack Obama","Gun Control","Guns","Republican debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86629b1eda8959c7/6988794f0a4a227f2e9c7ecf/republican-presidential-debate-gop-photos-006.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86629b1eda8959c7/6988794f0a4a227f2e9c7ecf/republican-presidential-debate-gop-photos-006.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GOP Presidential Candidates Debate In Charleston","caption":"Republican presidential candidates, from left, Ohio Governor John Kasich, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Sen. 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